The promotion of efficient energy strategies among the rural poor is practised by development agencies all over the world. However uptake of such strategies has always been harder to achieve among displaced communities. Using the Theory of Reasoned Action (TORA) psychological survey tool, Gamos investigated what the barriers to effective communication with refugees are.

The skills and awareness of workers facilitating participatory processes depend largely on the training given, which is in turn governed by the remit of their parent organisation. If energy is not included in the training, it is unlikely to be recognised by either extension workers or villages as a need leading to gaps in communication.

Effective management of land resources is vital to the sustainability of local farming systems in the hills of Nepal and to wider poverty alleviation. In the past many management strategies have been developed and implemented with great success but then do not spread beyond the locality of the initial project. This project aimed to identify sustainable processes for informing policy discussions at national level.

As part of the independent assessment of CATIA, a household survey was conducted by Gamos in Senegal of over 650 households. The survey was designed to yield data on: How people are using communications, and what impact this has on their lives? Are households with greater access to ICT making use (i.e. take up the opportunity) of that access? Has this use enabled poor people (in Senegal) to gain (maximum) benefit from the opportunities offered by ICT? Furthermore is the increasing exposure to media and telecommunications improving health knowledge, attitude and behaviour?

This article presents findings from Gamos led research into the use of telecommunications services in African countries. The research is intended to address the lack of field data on customers in rural and low-income areas of Africa, and to inform policymakers, private-sector service providers, and the donor community about issues concerned with universal access.

The ability of ICTs and the internet to give people access to knowledge and ideas from all over the world continues to hold great promise in the development context. Gamos has contributed to this IICD report which examines how local content in developing countries is created, adapted, and exchanged, and how it can be enhanced.